Transportation Planning

Transportation planning concerns placement of streets, highways, sidewalks, bicycle lanes, and public transport lines. Historically, transportation planning followed the model of defining goals and objectives, identifying problems, generating and evaluating alternatives, and developing plans. The rising importance of environmental concerns has encouraged planners to adopt a multi-disciplinary approach. For example, transportation plans could be influenced by the desire to persuade drivers to abandon their automobiles for public transportation. Thus, the role of the transport planner is shifting from technical analysis to promoting sustainability through integrated transportation policies.